An -Eastern Visitor
It is not necessary to be a Pravda leader-writer to suspect that there is more behind the visit of the Shah of Persia than is allowed to meet the eye. The ostensible reason for the trip is to give the young monarch a chance to study recent industrial and technical developments here, and no doubt he will find much of what he is shown interesting and be able to make use of his new knowledge when he gets back home. But it is a fair guess that the Shah has been impelled to pay us a visit as much by the rather dis- couraging state of Persian politics as by the slightly more encouraging state of British industry. There have been many signs recently that Persia is reaching one of those periodic crises in her national life when the urge to make a violent change becomes almost impossible to check. It is natural that in these circumstances many Persians should transfer their hopes from Parliament to the Throne, and as things are at present an extension of the royal power looks a likely possibility. It is significant that the Home Affairs Committee of the Majlis (Lower House) recently accepted a Bill which would revive the Senate—an integral part of Parliament which, however, Persia has managed to get along without for the past thirty years. In the Senate thirty per ce-it. of the members would be nominees of the Shah and, more important, the Senate has the power to dissolve the Majlis. That some Persians foreiee the development of events along these ILes is shown by the recent appearance in Teheran of what is called an "Anti-Dictatorial Fund," in which the extreme Left (the Russian-backed Tudeh party) and the extreme Right are united by common fear of what would happen to them if the Shah ruled through a subservient Senate and without a Majlis. It may be said that Persian internal politics are no concern of this country. This is true, in so far as they do not affect our oil concession in the South. The British Government has always encouraged a strong central Government in Persia, though when strength degenerated into dictatorship, as happened under Reza Shah, our support had to be.withdrawn. While wishing well to the present Shah we must hope that he will reproduce his father's energy and patriotism without his father's taste for autocracy.
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